Lost My Job and Doubting Myself

[Bones]

"Congratulations"

Well done!

Leah xx

Thanks, Leah!

Bones

[Bones]

As some of you may be aware, I am working a part-time job with the homeless and that this job is due to end by April, once the danger of hypothermia has also ended.  This job has made me even more aware of the suffering that is experienced by the homeless.  Last night was an example.

I received a call from the hotline staff that a new client was being referred to me because he had recently lost his home and the weather was REALLY nasty!  When he arrived, he was drenched to the bone and really cold as it had been sleeting outside.  He was also limping very badly as he had been walking, nonstop, for three days.  The best I could offer him was a dry pair of socks and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  As the sandwich was being prepared by a volunteer, the new client took off his shoes and I saw this BOTH of his socks were SOAKED WITH BLOOD!   

I borrowed the First Aid kit from the church we were staying in, put on some surgical gloves and told the client that I needed to look at his feet.  He peeled off one sock and I could see that his foot had about two blisters and that both had appeared to be bleeding.  I cleaned the blisters as much as possible and put bandaids over them.  Then he took off his other bloodied sock and I saw, to my shock and horror, that he had a deep ulcer, approximately one inch in diameter, on his other foot that was BADLY infected!  I instinctively knew that this condition was WAY BEYOND my skill level!  I called the hotline staff back to inform them that I needed to contact the EMTs and to fill out an Injury Report.  The EMTs arrived and they ascertained that he needed to go to the Emergency Room immediately and the new client was transported.

Shortly after the new client was on his way to the hospital, my relief arrived and I started to fill her in on what had just taken place and handed her a copy of the Injury Report.  She tossed it aside with an "I Don't Care" attitude, proceeded to blame the victim for his own problems, and prepared to bar him from returning, along with turning off the staff phone, so that the hotline staff couldn't reach her about this client, because she found it all "inconvenient" which annoyed me to no end!  (And this person professes to be a DEVOUT CHRISTIAN!!!!)  I couldn't help but think of the Bible verses in the New Testament of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, housing the homeless, etc. along with "entertaining angels unawares".  I'm scheduled to go back to work tonight and will be encountering this same apathetic staff member when she relieves me at midnight.  I'm ready to ask her the question:  "WWJD?"

Sheesh!!!!

Bones

[Hopalong]

oh Bones.
I vote that after you ask her WWJD, you raise

Holy Hell


love
Hops

[isittoolate]

That's awful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

but what is a WWJD?

naive Izzy

[Leah]

Hi Izzy,

WWJD  =  What Would Jesus Do ?

I would also ask her which Jesus does she follow?  Clearly not the Jesus I know - in the Bible !!

Also, I would suggest she swop places for 3 days with the dear man who lost his home and has sores and ulcers on his poor feet, God help him.

Anyone can walk into a church building and call themselves a Christian .........

Jesus said, "by their fruits you shall know them" - and that's good enough for me.

My hope and prayer is that someone helped that dear man in his time of trouble and need, just as Bones did.

Leah xx

[Bones]

oh Bones.
I vote that after you ask her WWJD, you raise

Holy Hell


love
Hops

Her attitude was different tonight.  I don't know what turned her around.  She has now expressed concern about this client as he appears to still be in the hospital.  It wouldn't surprise me if he needed surgery on that ulcerated foot.

Bones

[Bones]

Hi Izzy,

WWJD  =  What Would Jesus Do ?

I would also ask her which Jesus does she follow?  Clearly not the Jesus I know - in the Bible !!

Also, I would suggest she swop places for 3 days with the dear man who lost his home and has sores and ulcers on his poor feet, God help him.

Anyone can walk into a church building and call themselves a Christian .........

Jesus said, "by their fruits you shall know them" - and that's good enough for me.

My hope and prayer is that someone helped that dear man in his time of trouble and need, just as Bones did.

Leah xx

Thanks, Leah!

That was the other Bible verse that was rolling through my brain on Friday night.  I looked up the other verses that kept repeating themselves:

Hebrews 13:2

and

Matthew 25: 34-40

Bones

[Gaining Strength]

Bones - I am comforted by your deep concern.  That you would worry that he had no dry clothes and would sit with him to change his socks is an extraordinary action.  And it is only by this action that you were able to discern his need for medical care.  You were Christ for this broken soul, you were the balm in Gilead.

I suggest that your co-worker is as wounded as the client - that it is her soul that is wounded and hardened and that she needs a Balm as well.  Not that your description of her behavior didn't turn my stomach and really make me angry but very quickly I realized that only one who was callous could do that and callouses grew over soft and tender spots.  Give her a balm so that she might heal - that her attitude changed may be a sign that there is room for healing to further awaken compassion in her.

Thank heavens that man met you.  You were an angel to him.  That is a marvelous reward - you were in the right place and your compassion has touched me deeply.  I have also learned my need for compassion for some people in my life who seem hard hearted and who have turned their backs on me while I struggled to survive while trying to provide for a little boy.  I wil take this lesson to heart.  Thank you.  your friend, Gaining Strength

[Bones]

Bones - I am comforted by your deep concern.  That you would worry that he had no dry clothes and would sit with him to change his socks is an extraordinary action.  And it is only by this action that you were able to discern his need for medical care.  You were Christ for this broken soul, you were the balm in Gilead.

I suggest that your co-worker is as wounded as the client - that it is her soul that is wounded and hardened and that she needs a Balm as well.  Not that your description of her behavior didn't turn my stomach and really make me angry but very quickly I realized that only one who was callous could do that and callouses grew over soft and tender spots.  Give her a balm so that she might heal - that her attitude changed may be a sign that there is room for healing to further awaken compassion in her.

Thank heavens that man met you.  You were an angel to him.  That is a marvelous reward - you were in the right place and your compassion has touched me deeply.  I have also learned my need for compassion for some people in my life who seem hard hearted and who have turned their backs on me while I struggled to survive while trying to provide for a little boy.  I wil take this lesson to heart.  Thank you.  your friend, Gaining Strength

Thank you, GS.

Bones

[BonesMS]

I've still been going to job interviews, and yet, no results.

Bones

[BonesMS]

Thanks, Besee.

I've communicated with the university where I got my degree but because they are an online institution, located out of my state, they have not been all that helpful.  I think the service you mention charges a fee and I don't have the spare change for that.  Today, I've been accepted as a crisis hotline volunteer and have been scheduled to begin training on May 15th.  I'm hoping that this volunteer job will help me hone my counseling skills and possibly improve my chances of getting a paying job where I can use my master's degree.

I have two job interviews coming up next week...one in another county and the other up in Baltimore.

Bones

[isittoolate]

Hi Bones,

My goodness it's been some time since you worked.

What is your Masters Degree in? (pardon the grammer)

In what is your Master's Degree?

Volunteer work is good, for making contacts. I was volunteering at the Senior's Centre in Basic Computing and met a gal.  She was a bit odd but she would always stay long enough to hold a parking place for me. She volunteered in the am classes and I in the pm classes. She was on a Condo council. Their bookkeeper resigned for marriage and as she was writing out a job description she thought of me. I got the job.

In that Condo job I met a guy on the Board who liked my work on their Website. They both resigned the board, as all volunteers do, as he was busy with an organization for Seniors Classes. He recommended me for their website and I got it,. Then the Treasurer resigned, from this new place, and no one wanted the job, so the President asked the Web guy if he thought I would do the books. i did all these jobs, then the Condo one folded just as the Classes one was getting bigger and bigger and that is what I do.

I felt Someone was watching over me, by being in the right place and the right time.

Really! I was handed these on a silver platter! and just when the membership was growing enough to be able to pay someone from the outside (Well that's me, the Outsider!)

Keep on keeping on and find your right place.
Love
Izzy

[Hopalong]

i'm so glad all that worked that way for you Izzy
You sure deserved a break

Bones, you are a patient, dogged determined person
and I have complete faith you'll soon be writing us
about your new position

Hops

[BonesMS]

Thanks.

In response to Izzy's question, I completed a Master's of Science degree in Addiction Psychology.

I'm hoping to be able to put that degree to work as soon as possible.

Bones

[BonesMS]

FYI:

I have two job interviews this week...one on Wednesday and the other on Friday.  I still feel apprehensive about them.

Bones